MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) did a take on those old commercials for Las Vegas tourism Tuesday (July 24) night.
That is, what happens this year in schools across Morgantown and Monongalia County stays in schools across Morgantown and Monongalia County.
At least when it concerns the home addresses of the students in the seats.
BOE members voted to continue a long-standing moratorium on transfers into the county — from out-of-county students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.
The moratorium covers the coming school year. The first day of classes is Aug. 21.
“We’re an anomaly,” Assistant Superintendent of Schools Donna Talerico said.
“Everybody else is losing population, and we’re gaining.”
That statement is populated by numbers from the Pew Charitable Trust.
According to a recent study from the civic organization, West Virginia and Michigan were the only two states to consistently lose population from 2007-’17.
In the Mountain State, as more and more people are being driven out by poverty, a crushing epidemic of opioid abuse and other factors, more and more people are moving into Morgantown and Monongalia County.
Mon’s population growth of 9.2 percent over the years of the study is second only to the 10.3 percent gain in Berkeley County during that same span.
That means, Talerico said, more students in more schools already pushing their attendance limits.
“We’re starting to reach capacity in all of our schools,” she said.
Enrollment totals won’t be firmly set until the couple of weeks or so after the first day of school Aug. 21, she said.
Right now, for example, Cheat Lake Elementary School is projecting an enrollment of 800 this year, she said.
The first day of school will call about 640 students each to North and Eastwood elementary schools, she reported.
There are also classroom caps to consider, Talerico said.
The maximum for a pre-kindergarten class is 20, she said. Kindergarten classes are limited to 23.
That number goes to 25 for classrooms in grades 1-3 and 28 for grades 4-6, she said.
Tuesday night’s vote was nothing new, Talerico said. The moratorium has been in place for five years.
The highest numbers of outside transfers coming into Monongalia before the moratorium were kindergarten students, she said.
Continuous growth in outlying Mon County is why, Talerico said.
A subdivision goes in, and kindergarten enrollment at the closest school goes up, she said.
BOE Vice President Mike Kelly stressed that the moratorium won’t affect families and students living in Morgantown and Monongalia County.
